Singapore

SG Public housing a hot button issue at dialogue

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) should tighten its rules to make flats “more home, less asset”, according to the majority of participants at a recent dialogue on housing issues held at the National Library.

Several participants stated that meeting the housing needs of Singaporeans should be HDB's priority as opposed to seeing flats as appreciating assets, reported The Straits Times.

They added that flats should not be sub-let so easily or owned by those who can afford private properties.

Some participants also suggested that new citizens and permanent residents (PRs) should be governed by different rules from born-and-bred citizens, like a longer minimum occupation period in their flats.

Almost everyone did not want to see the country's homeownership rate fall below 80 or 90 percent.

Meanwhile, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan noted that he was happy to see the objective of homeownership reaffirmed as a “desirable target”.

Shabnam Muzammil, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email shabnam@allproperty.com.sg